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Calif Scorching Temps Astound Climate Scientists

/in /by /CityWatch (Los Angeles)by Nika Knight

As wildfire rages in California, flooding affects millions in India and China, and eggs are fried on sidewalks in Iraq, scientists say global climate catastrophe is surpassing predictions. Southern California’s years-long drought has resulted in one of the “most extreme” wildfires the region has ever seen.

Record global heat in the first half of 2016 has caught climate scientists off-guard, reports Thompson Reuters Foundation. “What concerns me most is that we didn’t anticipate these temperature jumps,” David Carlson, director of the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) climate research program, told Thompson Reuters Foundation late Monday.

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Can Flooded Rice Fields be a Solution in California Water War?

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Tara Duggan

California is the country’s second-largest rice producer, after Arkansas, and the $5 billion crop is particularly well suited to the Sacramento Valley’s clay soil.

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Sierra Nevada Giant Sequoias Respond to Water Stress With Clever Adaptations

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Robert Kuo

The leaves atop giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada are better at storing water than those closer to the ground, an adaptation that may explain how their treetops are able to survive 300 feet in the air, researchers at American River College and Humboldt State University have found.

“It can take over a week for water to get from the ground to the top of the tree,” says Alana Chin, who led the study and is an instructor at American River College. “When you’re that tall of a tree, you’re under tremendous water stress.”

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New Poll Shows Californians’ Opinions On Climate Change, Water

/in /by /Capital Public Radio News (Sacramento)by Amy Quinton

It’s been 10 years since California enacted AB 32, which requires the state to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020.

The state is on track to meet its goal. A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows, despite a partisan divide, 62 percent of likely voters favor the law.

Fifty-nine percent of likely voters also favor a new law that requires greenhouse gases be reduced even more. For Californians who believe gas prices will rise as a result, 63 percent of voters still favor expanding the goals.

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New Wetlands Are Being Created in Weird Ways—and That’s Good for Birds

/in /by /Take Part (Beverly Hills)by John R. Platt

Around the world, vital wetlands are being destroyed. Researchers recently estimated that the planet has lost at least 54 percent and as much as 87 percent of these important habitats globally since 1700. As the wetlands disappeared, so have many of the species that once called them home.

At the same time, something else is going on. Agriculture and other types of development are creating some new wetlands where they may not have existed before.

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New species of tiny endangered fish found only at Camp Pendleton

/in /by /The Los Angeles Timesby Sean Greene

Scientists say a tiny endangered fish found in lagoons and streams along the California coast belongs to two separate species.

The tidewater goby, a 2-inch translucent fish, survives in relatively isolated populations from Del Norte County down to San Diego. The fish spend most of their lives in the same puddles, rarely traveling far from where they spawned.

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Study recommends groundwater recharge as way against drought

/in /by /New China (China)

A new Stanford University study recommends groundwater recharge and storage across the state of California as what it calls as “an affordable solution” against drought in recent years.

In addition to building more resilient water supplies in the Golden State, the study suggests that the process, known as “managed aquifer recharge,” or MAR, can incorporate co-benefits such as flood control, improved water quality and wetland habitat protection.

 

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Deep Water Desalination Proposed in Monterey Bay

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

Backers of a new Monterey Bay desalination project think they have found a fix for the environmental problems posed by most seawater intakes: Instead of drawing seawater from the beach, they plan to draw from the one of the world’s deepest marine canyons.

The Deep Water Desal project is proposed at Moss Landing, exactly midway along the curving shore of Monterey Bay. As such, it may be ideally positioned to serve the chronic water shortages affecting the region. 

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Revised CA Twin Tunnels plan draws support, controversy

/in /by /KCRA (Sacramento)by Mike Luery

A scenic spot along the Sacramento River is quickly becoming ground zero in the fight over California’s water future as the new California WaterFix project is generating strong reactions. We are absolutely opposed to the Tunnels,” one Delta resident said. The Twin Tunnels are a big part of the revised California WaterFix.

The new plan would draw fresh water out of the Sacramento River from three intake points between Clarksburg and Hood. Eventually, the tunnels would divert the water through the Delta to protect endangered fish before ultimately supplying 25 million people surrounding Los Angeles with California’s most precious resource.

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Statewide energy alert issued as California bakes in summer heat

/in /by /The Los Angeles Timesby Joseph Serna

Sweltering temperatures across California prompted calls for residents statewide to reduce their energy use through 9 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.

The so-called flex alert initiated by the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s electric grid for most of the state, was scheduled to run from 2 to 9 p.m. Utility companies urged their residential customers to voluntarily delay washing clothes and dishes until bedtime and to keep their thermostats at 78 degrees or higher.

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